My wife drove a C280 W204 since last October 2008. Recently, she drove through a water pond during a flood in my town. The car stopped and got a hydrolock (a.k.a water hammer) problem. The authorized workshop found one cylinder was severely affected. Cylinder's liner was scratched, connecting rod was broken, and the most horrible thing; there was a hole in lower engine block caused by the broken rod hitting the block's wall.

The big problem came out when the workshop told me that the liner and the short block (lower part of engine block without the head) were not available. I have to replace the whole engine blocks including the liners, which is non replaceable, and it will cost me USD 50,000 (the new car costs me USD 78.000)

I don't think this is a right way for MB to make money from repair business. I hope somebody, or maybe MB, can give me a proper way out for this problem.

 

Make your wife pay for it. Afterall she drove it through water that deep.

 

lol.

Probably not the answer the OP was looking for.

 

Thank you for your way out Mr. Super Moderator.
She will pay for it using my money.

 

this happened to my families w203...

there was a downpour and puddles were everywhere... all kinds of cars hyundais, toyotas etc were driving through the rain and the mercedes benz locked up in the middle of an intersection.

pretty ****tty... we went to benz with it and they quoted a lot as well... it wasn't under warrenty and the faulty car was not to blame... only we were... apparently that is something that benz drivers pay for... pops took it to court... and finally settled for lesser payment.

he pretty much hates benz and has been recently giving his money to bmw.




so yea... i hope you have a lot of time to waste.

 

women...

 

If there was a flood in your town and your car got damaged in the process, wouldn't insurance cover this?

 

jordi,

Just how high was the water?

Does it have to get high enough to go into the intake?

 

was this during the huge flood back in Aug 05? ahha

 

i think it was in 02...

i mean everything happens for a reason... and in my case... it was for the best cause he was* lookin to get the E class... instead he got the 5 series which imo is 100 x nicer.

 

yea, I agree with you. 5 series, does look better than the E-class

 

A bit of bad luck and the bumper throws water to the engine air intake.

 

I definitely feel bad for your car, but blaming MB for your wife's own decision to drive through a pond during flooding is absurd. Would MB pay for my car repairs if I drove it into a wall? Does insurance from whichever country you are from cover flood damage? You can pretty much get them to salvage it if it costs $50,000 to repair.

You should be ok, afterall, you do list that you drive a Porsche 996 C2.

 

So basically, the water needs to be about 5-6 inches deep? Deep enough to contact the bottom of the bumper/air dam to cause a wave that could end up in the intake?

 

It better not.... that's NOTHING.... D: i hope 2 feet...

We had a flood here? lol I don't remember[toronto]

 

Best option now is to look to a junkyard for a rear-ended W204, and buy then engine from that one. $50,000 for an engine is just a bit out of line. . .

Good luck!

 

Wow. $50 large for a new engine

I'd rather have Brabus turn it in to a 4.0L w/ 330HP for around 30K.

Best of luck to you, that is an awful situation to be in.

 

What damage. The engine must have been spinning !!

A friend here in Australia had his wife do the same thing a month ago . The Peugeot 406 was written off by the insurance company & he purchased a 307 Peugeot diesel. Surely your insurance company will come to the party.???

 

whats absurd is spending 50+ thousand dollars on a car that you have to leave at home when there are rain storms... because lets be real... puddles can form anywhere during a rain storm... and the whole joke is that a 15 thousand dollar car can pass right through...

and even more absurd... having a company expect you to pay another 50 thousand dollars... to 'repair' THEIR faulty system... so that next time it rains you can either leave it at home or risk taking it out driving paranoid and possibly paying some more money...

and to say he has a Porsche so he should be ok... is moronic at best... just because someone works hard and buys nice things means that they should have no problems ****ting away their money. I'm sure he didn't get that car by doing that.

 

This vehicle was driven through pretty deep water or too fast. Anyway the driver is the only one at fault.

These engines have no loose liners. The bore is Alusil & integral with the block.

 

What's absurd is you automatically assume that his car had faulty system that caused a water lock. The OP posted that his WIFE drove into a WATER POND during a flood. I don't see where your argument of not driving during rain storms come from. I live in a place that has one of the heaviest rainfalls in the world. Obviously, you would know because your Toronto's 40in yearly rainfall is comparable to our 730in+ yearly rainfall right.

Glyn M Ruck is right, the vehicle must has been in very deep water. The moral of the story is: own up to your own f-ups, don't blame somebody else.


Moronic at best? If his w204 cost 70k+ USD, how much would a 996 C2 cost?

 

Hi all,
Thanks for the comments. Actually it was not a big flood, puddle formed in a slope of a main street after 30 mins of heavy rain. The deepest part of the puddle was abt 30 cm and maybe she drove a bit fast. At least 2 Hondas Fit n 1 Corolla passed through the puddle safely at that time.
No flood insurance covered this car.
I never blame MB for this damage, it is a combination of bad luck n lack of driving skill. My only concern is how can I must buy a whole engine block that cost me $50k while the block itself consist of 2 separate parts, i.e short block n cylinder head block. The same situation with Imboom if you drive your car into a wall and get your bumper damaged then you have to buy the whole body bcos MB doesn't sell the bumper separately.
It's right that I drive Porsche so I can afford $50k cost of repair, but it is a totally moronic way of spending money. Again I'm not blaming MB for the damage, but I don't want to be squeezed by MB policy in selling the whole block only and at a crazy expensive price which is 70% of new car price.

 

I think you have a shark dealer. Have you contacted Benz - In SA we can buy the block separate to the head & for a lot less than $50K - something smells here.

 

Hey jordi i would give brabus a call they might have some parts laying around and you may as well call them if you have to pay any thing close to 25k total.....

 

Hi Glyn and Flame,
I have checked MB dealers in south east asia region and they always told me no short block available for the new engine. However, they r not sure whether the short block is NOT YET available or will NEVER available.
Thanks Flame if you can let me know any modif workshop that may have the block. I also think of it, but we have no official modification workshop here.